The decision by the Smith Commission to include Air Passenger Duty (APD) within today’s published proposals on further devolution to Scotland will be welcomed by the business community and tourism sector.

There was agreement amongst most of the parties that APD should be transferred north of the Border and assuming it gets agreed by Westminster, many people would then like to see Holyrood abolish the tax altogether as an effective means of stimulating growth in the Scottish economy.

In doing this Scotland would follow the lead of most European countries which have already abolished APD, leaving UK passengers paying the highest departure tax in the world.

Back in 1994 when it was introduced, passengers paid £5 for a short haul flight and double that for long haul flights.

This has risen to the point where some flights today are accompanied by £194 charge for APD.

Research published by the ‘Big Four’ firm PwC found that significantly reducing or abolishing APD would result in a healthy increase in the UK’s Gross Domestic Product and would lead to the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs across a broad range of sectors.

It also found that reducing or abolishing the duty would actually increase the revenues to the Treasury from other taxes to the extent it would pay for itself.

In amongst the deluge received by the Smith Commission was a joint submission by Scotland’s three main airports, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, calling for APD to be devolved to Holyrood and eventually abolished.

Although the duty raised £2.9 billion in the UK in 2013-2014 with approximately £200 million coming from Scotland, the three airports claim the tax is a significant barrier to growth and damaging to tourism.

The joint submission claimed that APD is resulting in two million less passengers travelling to Scotland every year stating that the nation’s location and the fact its economy is particularly reliant on aviation meant that any loss of connectivity would have “a significant impact on the country's competitiveness”.

The airports perspective echoes the conclusion of a 2012 report by York Aviation which warned that APD will cost the Scottish economy up to £210m in lost tourism spend by 2016.

To be fair, there is some progress being made at a UK level to reform APD. Earlier this year the Chancellor announced he wanted to end the system whereby air passengers pay less tax travelling to Hawaii than to other international locations including China or India, a move supported by The Association of British Travel Agents.

Also, from April 2015, taxes for long-haul flights will be cut by up to £26 person.

In Northern Ireland, which took control if APD rates for direct long haul flights going from its airports in 2012, a zero rate has now been set putting it on a par with the Irish Republic which scrapped its equivalent of the tax in 2013.

While the SNP administration along with the Scottish Conservatives and Liberal Democrats support the devolution of APD, the Scottish Labour Party remains unconvinced stating further consideration needs to be given to the ‘environmental impact and how else this tax might be reformed’.

Putting the politics aside, I am more persuaded by the arguments from people like Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport’s chief executive who states that APD is hugely damaging to Scotland tourism and claims that Ryanair alone has already committed to delivering over one million new passengers if this duty was to be abolished.

The pressure will now fall to David Cameron and Westminster to act immediately to ensure Scotland is able to take control of and potentially abolish this form of taxation.

Many hope this will be the fate of APD in Scotland which could prove beneficial to our economic prospects.